May It Be
by Ivorycat
Summary: 2 years after season four: Angel's getting married; Spike is a super, duper daddy; Drama is in the air. Better summary inside. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1 Spike Dalton

                                           **MAY IT BE**

NOTE: I don't own the Scoobies and I don't own AI. If I did then I would be sitting on truck loads of money and hiring someone to do my homework for me.

A/N: This takes place two years after season seven of Buffy and season four of Angel and parts of it are AUed. Buffy and crew went to stay at Angel's hotel, you know since their home went all ka-boom like, and Spike (not dead Spike) is in San Diego. Also Angel still owns W&H, just lives at the hotel.

                                                      CHAPTER 1 

          Spike Dalton walked upstairs to his apartment, which was located above the cafe he owned. He expected to see his daughters in the living room, watching TV and eating all things not nailed down. When he saw no one in the living room he made his way into the kitchen, which was an eye sore.

          Bowls of unfinished cereal lay scattered around the stove and sink, spilled milk and juice covered the floor, and there were several boxes of ice cream on the kitchen table where Beth, Spike's five-year-old daughter, sat eating a swirl of chocolate and vanilla.

Spike started, "What the bloody- was there a tornado warning I missed?"

Beth flashed her blue eyes in his direction and giggled lightly. "You're funny... sometimes." She went back to her ice cream.

"So what happened here?" Spike asked, glancing around. "Where Nick?"

Beth shrugged, "I think Nicky got kidnapped by aliens." She thought then. "Or maybe she's going to go have sex," Beth stated, having absolutely no clue of what the word meant.

Spike's eyes widened and he shook his head. "Better be the first time," he muttered before giving Beth a stern look. "What have I told you about making a mess in the kitchen?"

Beth smiled and used her angelic voice. "What makes you think _I_ did it?"

"Not going to _lie_ are you?" Spike smirked.

"Course not," Beth replied, shaking her head, making her black hair bounce. "OK, I did it. But, Daddy, you wouldn't make _me_ clean this up would you?" She batted her eyelashes.

"By yourself?" Spike said. "No, not that evil. But you are going to help me and then I'll make real food afterwards."

Suddeny Spike's other daughter, fourteen-year-old Nicole, raced into the kitchen, tossing off the pair of headphones she wore. "Hi, guys. Let's eat," she rushed, grabbing three plates from the cabinet.

"Nick, we need to talk," Spike began.

"Later, Dad. Gotta make dinner," Nicole said.

Spike gently took the plates away from his daughter. "Where were you? I thought you were up here all day."

"I know, I know," Nicole said with an eyeroll. "But I just figured—"

"Figured you wouldn't call?" Spike cut her off. "Yeah, I caught on to that one already, luv."

"Look, Dad, I know my job," Nick said, pulling the ponytail out of her hair and running a hand through the dark brown locks. "Come home, fix something to eat for the kid. I got that."

"Could have fooled me," Spike stated.

"I figured you'd be here and could have handled it," Nicole continued. "I mean you don't need me every ten seconds."

"That's not the point," Spike insisted, keeping the calm in his voice. "You know what you're supposed to do and I expect you to do it."

"Hey, I—" Nicole began again then heard the doorbell go off. "Whoa. Total saved by the bell moment."

          Spike rolled his eyes and headed for the door. When he opened it the brown eyes of the dark slayer met his in a lock. Faith stood on the other side, clad in dark leather pants and a black t-shirt that read trouble in crimson letters across it, a purse on her shoulder.

"Hey," Faith greeted, before holding out a letter to him. "Telegram for Captain Peroxide."

"Thanks," Spike said slowly, surprised to see her. He took hold of the letter before looking Faith over. "Nice pants."

Faith glanced down at her leather clad legs. "Yeah. Sale at trash and clash."

Spike tore open the envelope Faith had handed to him and began reading the message inside. His eyes grew a little as he finished it. Spike met Faith's eyes again, a surprised expression on his face, even more so surprised than when he had first seen Faith.

"Hard to believe, huh?" Faith said.

Beth walked up suddenly and quietly. She squinted her eyes at Faith, who looked very familiar. "Faith?" Beth questioned.

"Hey, kid," Faith smiled down at her.

"Faith!" Beth abruptly cried out, getting fond memories of the woman before her. She went over and gestured for Faith to hoist her up, which the Slayer did. Beth glanced from her father to Faith. "What's wrong with Daddy?"

Faith shrugged, "You know, just mail. Bills, early Christmas cards, B getting married, the usual."

A/N: I would like to pretty much thank my friend Anica for this story since it was origionally an RPG idea of ours. Also, I would not have been able to do this without my friend, Pyro Bear. So thanks, Anica and Pyro. Please review.


	2. Chapter 2 Booze Patrol

**MAY IT BE**

NOTE: I do not own the Scoobies and I do not own AI. If I did then I would be sitting on truckloads of money and hiring someone to do my homework for me. 

A/N: This takes place two years after season seven of Buffy and season four of Angel and parts of it are AUed. Buffy and crew went to stay at Angel's hotel, you know since their home went all ka-boom like, and Spike (not dead Spike) is in San Diego. In addition, Angel still owns W&H, just lives at the hotel. 

CHAPTER 2: BOOZE PATROL

Nicole appeared at the front door by the trio, her deep blue eyes quickly catching Faith, a grimace crossing her face as she stared the woman over. 

"You're one of them," Nicole said, thinking of her father's skanky girlfriends. "You won't last long," she sneered, folding her arms. "But while you're here let me give you a couple of tips. Number one, my name is Harper, not Nic, or Nicky. I do not know you, nor do I want to know you so it would be good if we did not do the woman to woman bonding thing. If you're not sure, don't ask; just don't do it." 

Faith shrugged, responding with, "I came here to deliver a wedding invite." She gestured to the envelope Spike was holding in his right hand. 

"Oh," Nicole rolled her eyes. "Whatever." The teenager uncrossed her arms and shoved her hands into her pockets. "Just letting you know. I'm going to Dani's." With that, she pushed passed a slightly amused Faith and was out the door.   


Buffy sat on one of the couches in the hotel the next night, three-year-old Connor in her lap, reading an old storybook to him. The evening had been quiet; some of the others that stayed in the hotel were out having lives of their own. 

The quiet was soon interrupted by Angel's large feet coming to charge down the stairs, followed by Mallory Jones, the hotel's sort of intern. 

"Please, Angel," Mallory begged. 

"No, Mal," Angel said, reaching the foot of the stairs. 

"Please!" Mallory continued, following him. 

"I said no," Angel said to her firmly, turning to glance at her then going to the front desk. 

"But I said please," Mallory countered as she went after him, going to stand in front of the desk, her light blue eyes looking into his brown ones. "Just give me one reason why." 

Angel looked at the fifteen-year-old blonde-haired girl closely. "I'm guessing because I said so won't make you go away." 

"Nope," Mallory smirked, crossing her arms. 

Angel also folded his arms as he said, "All right. Because I don't want you playing around with magic." 

"It's just a spell," Mallory insisted. "I'm trying to work with my powers a little. I'm trying to do good here." 

"For the millionth time, Mal," Angel sighed. "I said no and I mean no. Now ask me again and—" The double glass doors of the hotel opening interrupted the vampire. Spike, Nicole, Beth, and Faith stood on the top steps.   
Buffy glanced over at the group, holding Connor closely. 

"Hey," Faith greeted, breaking the silence, walking down the couple of steps that led into the hotel lobby. "Look what I found." 

"Spike," Buffy said softly, standing up with Connor in her arms. "It's really good to see you." She slowly approached the blonde vampire. "I mean it's been... that is it's..." Buffy just stopped talking and suddenly hugged him. "I swear I thought you died back there," she whispered. 

"Am I missing something here?" Mallory asked Angel, forgetting what she had been nagging him over. 

"That's Spike," Angel replied to her slowly, not at all threatened by Buffy hugging him. "He's... Spike." 

Nicole, who wore a large baseball cap over her head, her hair stuffed inside of it, starred in disgust at Buffy. What was she, one of those blondes who just had to jump all over a guy the second they see them? 

"Spike?" Everyone's attention went to Buffy. She gestured towards Beth and Nicole and asked, "Who?" 

"Oh." Spike turned to his children. "These are my daughters. The little one is Beth and the one with the sour expression on her face is Nicole." 

"Harper," Nicole corrected automatically, her arms folded. 

"Hi." Mallory walked up to Nicole and held out a hand, a large cheesy grin on her face. "I'm Mallory but friends call me Mal." 

Nicole just stared at her. "Let me guess," she said nonchalantly. "_Natural_, right?" She was referring to the blonde hair Mal had in a ponytail. 

Mallory retracted her hand, a hurt look on her face. 

Angel walked up next. "Hey," he greeted Spike's girls, not really knowing what to say. "You're both really tall for two years old." 

"They're adopted, mate," Spike said matter-of-factly. 

"You're huge," Beth said plainly to Angel. 

"You're yummy," Nicole whispered to herself, smirking. 

"Mommy Buffy," Connor said, tapping Buffy on the shoulder. "Look." He pointed his tiny finger at the hat Nicole wore on her head. "Blue." He reached out for it. 

"Hey!" Before Nicole could take a step back, Connor grabbed her hat, allowing her hair to tumble down to her shoulders. Nicole ran a hand through her now black hair, which had blue streaks running down it. "Great," she sighed. "That was supposed to be unveiled the day of the wedding." 

"Connor," Angel attempted to chide his son. "We don't take things that don't belong to us." He tried to hide the grin that was threatening to split his face. 

Connor, ignoring his father, slipped on Nicole's blue hat. It was too large, as it covered his eyes. 

"Explain," Spike said simply, gesturing towards Nicole's hair. 

"Oh, please. Like you don't bleach your hair every month," Nicole said with an eye roll. 

"Got you there," Angel said to the other man, amused, his hands in his pockets. Nicole gave the vampire a smile and shot a smirk at her father. 

"Fine," Spike shrugged. "You can dye your hair back next month, Nicky." 

Nicole sneered and turned away from him angrily, much to both Spike and Faith's amusement. 

"Faith," Angel said, getting the slayer's attention. "Why don't you show everyone to their rooms?" 

"Shouldn't you have people to do that for you?" Faith asked then realized it by a look from Angel. "Oh. I'm the people." She turned to Spike's girls. "Follow me, I guess. I'll show you where Lorne keeps the booze." 

"Cool," Nicole smiled as she and Beth followed Faith upstairs. 

"Excellent help you got here," Spike said, watching his kids follow Faith. "Because, you know, I need an even more agile Nicole on my hands." 

"Glad to know we could help," Angel said as Buffy went to stand next to him, little Connor still playing with Nicole's baseball cap. 

Spike looked Buffy, Connor, and Angel over. The trio looked like they were made for each other; just like a little family. Spike really did not know what to make of it. 

"So, you two, finally tying the knot, eh?" Spike finally said, making conversation. 

"Finally," Buffy replied, feeling awkward, just like she knew she would feel. 

"And this must be little Poof Junior." Spike eyed Connor. 

"Spike is a pain," Connor stated. 

"Connor," Buffy said reproachfully, surprised by the boy she considered her son. "Where'd you learn to say that?" 

Connor pointed to his father and started to say, "Da—" 

"Shush," Angel quickly hushed his son, holding a finger up to his lips. "Connor, it is quiet time." Connor grinned and shut his eyes, snuggling into Buffy's shirt.   


Faith, since Beth was comfortably settled in her room, led Nicole to her own. The black haired teenager laid on the bed on her stomach, a pillow under her chin. She slipped on her headphones and began to listen to her music. Faith just stood there, staring. 

"What?" Nic asked, looking up towards the older woman. 

Faith gestured for her to take off the headphone and when she did, Faith pulled a chair from the desk. "So," she said. 

"So," Nic asked, her finger playing with the wire of her headphones. "What do you want?" 

"So," Faith asked, putting her boot shod feet on the corner of the bed. "What's your story kid?"

A/N: You can thank Pyro Bear for this end part with Nicole and Faith. She also named the chapter. Isn't she a creative little thing? If you like what she does in this story then go read the ones she writes. Please review! Also, if anything confuses you then let me know.


	3. Chapter 3 Prettify

MAY IT BE  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Scoobies and I do not own AI. If I did then I would be sitting on truckloads of money and hiring someone to do my homework for me. Pyro agrees with this statement, but is too busy herself doing aforementioned homework and making tiny s'mores over candles to tell you herself.   
  
A/N: This takes place two years after season seven of Buffy and season four of Angel and parts of it are AUed. Buffy and crew went to stay at Angel's hotel, you know since their home went all ka-boom like, and Spike (not dead Spike) is in San Diego. In addition, Angel still owns W&H, just lives at the hotel.   
  
CHAPTER 3  
  
Nicole looked up, blinking a few times slowly. "What's my story?" she asked, cocking her head. When Faith nodded, she sneered. "None of your damn business," and with that, Nicole rolled over on her back, effectively ignoring the older woman. Faith stood and took one last look at the teen before leaving.   
  
Nicole, hearing the door click shut, stood, and began to go through her suitcase, looking for pajamas. "None of your damn business," she muttered under her breath.   
  
  
  
Faith made her way to her own room and thought about the raven-haired sullen teen. Something was bothering her, or it could just be normal teenage angst. Whatever it was, it wouldn't keep the slayer up at night.   
  
  
  
It was dark. That was the first thing Faith noticed. It was dark and hot, and there was someone...…or something…... really close to her.   
  
"Mommy?" a child's voice called. Faith held her breath. This seemed familiar but not. Closing her eyes, the dark-haired slayer pushed the memories in the dark recesses of her mind. "Mommy, I don't like the dark. I'll be good, promise!"   
  
The door opened, allowing light to pour into the dark space. A woman in her late twenties, pregnant, looked down at the child who sat at Faith's feet. Neither of the two people noticed Faith. "Get out, Nicole," the woman muttered, waddling away as quickly as her legs could take her.   
  
The child, Harper, Faith realized with a start, quickly made her way out of the dark closet and onto the couch, hugging one of the pillows. "I'll be good," she promised. "Daddy will come home if I do. I'll be a good girl."   
  
Faith stood there before going over and sitting down next to the child. Awkwardly, she placed a hand on the girl's back, rubbing it slightly.   
  
The child turned, and stared straight into Faith's dark eyes. "Are you an angel?"   
  
Faith's mouth quirked upwards. "Far from it, kid."   
  
"Oh," the little Nicole shrugged. "What are you?" Before Faith could respond, the doorbell rang. Scrambling off the couch, forgetting all about Faith, the child ran to the door. Quickly peeking out the window, she turned into the house. "Mommy, men like Daddy are here!"   
  
Out came the pregnant woman, and opened the door, revealing three men, all in army uniforms. "Ma'am," the first one said, "I have some news to tell you…"   
  
  
  
Faith woke with a start. Closets. Angels. Army. Were those the things that made up Harper's childhood? She shivered, though it was a warm night, somehow she didn't think this was the whole story.   
  
  
  
The following morning Buffy walked into the large kitchen of the hotel, her nose stuck in a bridal magazine. The wedding was close yet decisions still had to be made concerning it.   
  
"OK, Angel, I think I found the perfect roses," Buffy said, not looking up from her the magazine.   
  
"They're-" She looked up, seeing only Cordelia, Fred, and Willow in the kitchen. "I thought Angel was in here."   
  
"He just had some blood and left," Fred explained from where she sat at the table with Willow.   
  
"Somebody mind telling me why I'm in love with a brooding, blood drinking, pretty much non-human freakaziod?" Buffy questioned.   
  
"Have you taken a good look at him?" Willow reminded her with a smile. "I mean with the eyes and the muscles and the-" A look from Buffy cut her off. "Not that I've been looking," Willow said quickly, sitting her mug of herbal tea down on the table. "I-I'm a lesbian. Very lesbian-y." Fred awkwardly moved down a seat from Willow.   
  
"You know, Buffy," Cordelia said, walking over to the table, putting her coffee cup down, and pulling out a chair for herself. "If you want roses at your wedding you might really want to consider specially dyed. I mean just red and pink at a wedding?" Cordelia made an "as if" face. "Not in good taste."   
  
Buffy looked at Cordelia. The brunette had changed over the years but parts of her still had the classic Queen C charm. Buffy had to admit, though, Cordelia did have good taste in most things.   
  
Her help on the wedding would definitely prove useful.   
  
"So how about it, Buffy?" Cordelia nudged the slayer, wanting to know what she thought about the roses.   
  
"I guess so," Buffy replied with a sigh then pouted. "I'm really not good at this."   
  
"Well," Cordy smiled. "Consider me your personal wedding planner." She began to butter a piece of toast as she muttered, "God knows you need one. After all, you may be the slayer of all things demonic, but when it comes to fashion, I'm the slayer."   
  
"Will you be throwing rice?" the other women looked towards Fred, who blushed slightly at all of the attention "Because studies have been shown that if you throw rice, birds eat it, stomach eruptions would occur, and there is a high possibility they would explode. Now am I the only one here who thinks that bird insides don't exactly make for a very happy wedding? In fact it could spoil the whole day," the petite scientist looked around as the three other women gaped at her. "But...... we were talking about flowers, right?"   
  
"Who's talking about flowers?" Faith asked as she walked into the kitchen.   
  
"Faith, what do you know about roses?" Cordelia asked the dark haired slayer.   
  
Faith thought for a minute. "Hmm, sharp pointy things. But not really my thing, Cordy."   
  
"Well, what about bridesmaids dresses?" Willow mentioned, turning her attention to Buffy.   
  
"Have you picked colors yet?" Cordelia asked, interested in the color scheme that Buffy had chosen.   
  
"No, but whatever the colors are I'm going to make sure it's hideous so that you grow to resent me and that we never speak to each other," Buffy replied.   
  
"I can't wait," Willow beamed.   
  
"Well," Fred chimed in. "There's always a bridal shop. Maybe we could, you know, go there?"   
  
"Good idea, Fred," Buffy agreed, much to the delight of Fred. "Ladies, we're off to see the wizard."   
  
"Wizard aye? You know what they say about them magic folk," Faith winked at Willow, who blushed slightly.   
  
"Faith," Buffy said. "You really, really just sucked the joy out of this moment."   
  
"I try," Faith shrugged. "Anyway, are we bringing the kids?"   
  
"Kids?" Cordelia repeated, taking the information in slowly. "Since when are there kids. Did Connor suddenly multiply?"   
  
"Nope," Faith shook her head.   
  
"Spike did," Buffy clarified.   
  
"Spike?" Cordelia echoed. "Oh. He made it here last night." She realized it. "He has kids?"   
  
"Are you OK?" Willow asked Buffy with concern. "I-I mean this must be hard. Your fiancé and your ex-boyfriend all under the same roof and stuff."   
  
"He has kids?" Cordelia repeated herself. "By what? I mean whom. I'm working on the considerate human being thing. Really."   
  
"Adopted," Faith clarified. "Nicole, fourteen. Beth, five. Simple."   
  
"Um, who exactly would give kids to a single man, let alone a single vampire?" Fred asked.   
  
"Yeah…vampire," Faith agreed awkwardly. "So we going dress shopping or what?" she changed the subject quickly.   
  
Buffy gave Faith a look and folded her arms. "Faith, what do you know?" She wasn't fooled by the dark slayer's trick for a moment. She was a pro at that.   
  
"Don't lick a pole in the winter?" Faith answered with a shrug and a smirk.   
  
"Faith-" Buffy started.   
  
"Hey, you know," Faith said, interrupting the other slayer. "I really haven't had a good mall crawl in a while." She turned to Cordy. "You have to be up for it."   
  
"But of course," Cordelia replied, an unidentifiable accent in her voice. "Let's do it."   
  
  
  
In the hotel lobby, Beth sat on top of the front desk watching Spike and Nicole argue back and forth. It wasn't an unusual thing. In fact, it was one of the usual father/daughter "discussion".   
  
"It's only a few bucks," Nicole tried to reason.   
  
"I just gave you your allowance," Spike said, annoyance in his voice.   
  
"Look, just give me some money. You've got it."   
  
"Yes, I do." Spike smirked. "You don't. Now drop this."   
  
Nick growled, "You are so-"   
  
"Hey, Harper." Nicole turned and saw Faith and the other women walk up. "We're going to go prettify. You in?"   
  
"Prettify?" Nicole repeated, sounding disgusted. She thought about it, thinking it would be better than hanging around with Spike. "Fine."   
  
"Cool." Faith turned to Beth. "Come on, midget." She lifted the child into his arms. Buffy and the others headed for the double doors of the hotel, Nicole following them.   
  
Spike wrapped an arm around Faith's waist before she could move. "You're honestly going to go prettify my daughter? Have you met Nicole?" He made air quotes around the word prettify. Faith couldn't help but smirk. Somehow, she never thought that William the Bloody would do something like that.   
  
"Chill, Spike," Faith said. "While we're gone get some bonding time in with the boys or something."   
  
"Oh, joy," Spike said dryly. Faith gave him a light yet amused smile. Spike turned to Beth. "And you, missy, better behave yourself."   
  
"I always behave myself," Beth said simply. Spike gave her a look. "Well, I try."   
  
"She knows to be good," Faith added.   
  
"All right," Spike agreed. "Later."   
  
"Later," Faith said, following the others out of the hotel. Beth gave her father a wave before she left.   
  
"Spike?" The bleached blonde looked up to see Xander and Wesley standing on the top steps. Giles and Gunn could be seen behind them. "You're here?" Xander said.   
  
Gunn broke in front of the men. "So this is Spike?" He scoffed. "Don't look like much."   
  
"How did all of you wankers appear at once?" Spike groaned.   
  
"Free hotel breakfast?" Xander shrugged a cocky smirk on his face.   
  
  
  
A/N: This story is planned out but if anyone has any suggestions or ideas then please share. Please review. 


	4. Chapter 4 Dress Shops

MAY IT BE  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Scoobies and I do not own AI. If I did then I would be sitting on truckloads of money and hiring someone to do my homework for me. Pyro agrees with this statement, but is too busy herself doing aforementioned homework and making tiny s'mores over candles to tell you herself.   
  
A/N: This takes place two years after season seven of Buffy and season four of Angel and parts of it are AUed. Buffy and crew went to stay at Angel's hotel, you know since their home went all ka-boom like, and Spike (not dead Spike) is in San Diego. In addition, Angel still owns W&H, just lives at the hotel.   
  
  
  
CHAPTER 4  
  
At the dress shop, Cordelia led Buffy around through many wedding dresses, Buffy undecided on all of them. Nicole watched them, her arms folded, a thoughtful expression on her face.  
  
"What's wrong, kid?" Faith asked as she flipped through a rack of bridesmaids' dresses.  
  
"Nothing. Just... Buffy's kind of lucky. The whole getting married thing," Nicole stumbled through her explanation.  
  
"Must be nice," Faith said distractedly. "Not every day a girl marries an Angel," Faith sighed, "So what do you like?" she held up a dress.  
  
Nicole looked the rack of clothes over. "They're so..." the girl tried to find the right word.  
  
"Not so bad," Faith put in, trying to reason with the teenager.  
  
"But they're just so... pretty," Nicole continued. "People will look at me."  
  
"That's kind of the point," Faith pointed out. Nicole still looked uneasily.   
  
Faith sighed and looked at her. "Look, Harper, chill out. The whole frilly, pretty dress isn't really my thing, either. But, hey, it's just for one day." Faith shrugged her shoulders. "Primp a little. Besides, I don't think the whole ruffles and bows will be on the dress. I heard if Buffy does it, Willow will do some spells, and something will usually go wrong."  
  
"I…guess," Nicole said, still unsure. Beth sat on a small round couch in the middle of the shop, watching the grown ups pick out dresses. Beth wasn't the type to really get into   
  
something, just sit back, and watch it happen.  
  
"Hey, Bethie." Beth's blue eyes glanced up at Faith, who had come to stand over her. She held a pink dress in her hand, complete with hot pink flowers on it. "What do you think?"  
  
Beth made a face. "It's pink," she declared. "Gross!"  
  
"Come on," Faith nudged, sitting next to her. "Just try it."  
  
"No way," Beth shook her head, her long, black ponytails flying.  
  
"Well, what do you like?" Faith asked her.  
  
"Black," Beth replied. "Lots of black."  
  
Faith shook her head, slightly amused. She could bet that Beth's father had planted that in her head. "What about red?"  
  
Beth smiled. "Red's good."  
  
Faith took hold of a red, laced dress from a rack of flower girl dresses. "Try this."  
  
Beth took it, looking it over. "Pretty," she beamed. "And no pink."  
  
"No pink," Faith nodded as she watched the five-year-old walk into an unoccupied dressing room.  
  
Faith watched silently as Nicole rifled through the rack of bridesmaids' dresses. She touched them as if by the simplest mishandling, they would disappear into thin air.  
  
"Ladies," Cordelia said, a huge beam on her face. Willow, Faith, Fred, Nicole, and Beth all looked up. "Check out this vision of loveliness, compliments of moi." Beth held a cream colored dress in the same style of the red one Faith had picked out.  
  
"Cordy, I don't know about this," Buffy called from inside of a dressing room.  
  
"Buffy, do the bashful thing later," said Cordy. "Come on. We're all waiting."  
  
A hesitant Buffy finally stepped out of the dressing room. She wore a long, silk wedding dress with straps. She wore a diamond tiara in her long, curly golden blonde hair, a short veil made onto it.  
  
"Well?" Buffy nudged her friends uneasily, waiting on an opinion.  
  
"Oh, wow," Fred smiled.  
  
"Buffy..." Willow approached her, playing with the veil. "You look great."  
  
"Looking good, B," Faith agreed. Nicole nodded silently.  
  
"Thanks, guys," Buffy smiled bashfully, liking the dress herself. "You know, I... I kind of wish Anya could be here."  
  
"Oh." Fred realized it. "Anya. She was the one that..."  
  
"Died," Faith supplied, playing with her hands.  
  
"Yeah." Willow attempted to chuckle. "She'd probably be complaining about the economical costs of weddings these days."  
  
Cordelia tried to lighten the mood as she went over to Buffy. "Come on. Let's get this dress altered a little."  
  
"OK," Buffy nodded. "Thanks, Cordy."  
  
"Hey, people," Angel greeted as he walked down the stairs with his son in his arms. Gunn, Xander, and Wesley were all lined up on one of the couches, Giles sat in an armchair, and Spike had propped himself up on the front   
  
desk.  
  
"Uncle Gunn," Connor squealed with a smile, reaching out to him.  
  
"Hey, little man," Gunn smiled at him, taking the child into his arms.  
  
Angel smiled at the interaction before noticing that all of the men shared the same expression.  
  
"What's going on?" the tall vampire asked.  
  
"Well, it seems Spike has a secret about him," Wesley answered.  
  
"What do you mean?" Angel asked.  
  
"You see there has been some sort of transformation," Giles tried to explain. "Spike is well, he, that is, he's..."  
  
"I'm human," Spike spoke up.  
  
Mallory looked at where Nicole sat legs up around her chin. Squaring her shoulders, she went over to the younger teen.  
  
"Pretty cool huh?" Mallory said, as she flopped down next to Nicole at a table in a small cafe, outside the wedding shop.  
  
The other teen turned her head and looked at Mallory, "You again? What part of "Doesn't play well with others," do you not understand?" She sneered slightly and   
  
turned her head to look straight ahead.  
  
"Geez, I was just trying to be friendly. I mean most of the adults are sticks in the mud…." Mallory trailed off.  
  
"Sticks in the mud? God, how old are you, forty?" Nicole said, still looking straight ahead.  
  
"You're such a freak," Mallory said, standing up from the table.  
  
Nicole's head whipped around. "I am not a freak," she said lowly.  
  
"Prove it," Mallory said cockily, her arms across her chest. "Do you like to shop at the mall?"  
  
"Yes," Nicole said her face a picture of perfected teenaged boredom.  
  
"Oh," Mallory said, and thought for a moment. "Your own money or someone else's?"  
  
"My father's."  
  
"Oh," was all Mallory could say. "Wanna go shopping some time?"  
  
Faith pulled Cordelia behind a rack of dresses for little girls. "We've got problems of a teenage kind," she said quickly, not bothering to beat around the bush.  
  
"And?" Cordelia asked, not really understanding where the dark haired slayer was going with this.  
  
"Help Harper. She's having issues. Help me do something for her?" Faith asked the former cheerleader.  
  
"Why do you want to? No offense but Spike's oldest has been nothing but a bitch since we've met her," Cordelia pointed out.  
  
"Because sometimes the simplest gesture means the most," Faith said quietly.  
  
"Fine," Cordelia sighed, "This is what we do…"  
  
A/N: I am really sorry this took so long to update. I, that is we, Pyro Bear and I, will try to update sooner. Also, you should know that Pyro Bear is writing this with me. Awesome little writer, isn't she? Come on. Admit it. Please review! 


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